


The Misadventures of Loki and Strange

by DarkHell616



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Complicated Relationships, Magical Artifacts, More tags to be added, Mutual Dislike, Other, Slow To Update, magic gone awry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2020-02-04 09:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18601321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHell616/pseuds/DarkHell616
Summary: A series of peculiar and magical artifacts have been scattered and activated.Doctor Stephen Strange is in charge of gathering these items and shutting them off, returning them to a safe place before any serious damage is done, but he knows he can't do it alone.Unfortunately, he knows of just the man to do the job and against his better judgment he calls in Loki of Asgard to help.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I will apologize if this will seem wildly OOC, mostly on Strange's part, I'm not overly familiar with his character and only recently saw his film.  
> I wanted to see a series like this and it turned out a few of my readers wished to see it from me, so we'll see how it goes.

“Don’t think that I am anymore pleased about this than you are.”

Strange regarded Loki with a look of utter boredom at his behaviour.

The God had been pacing ever since Strange had brought him here, granted he could have maybe been a bit more polite about it, but this was a matter of dire urgency and, thought he didn’t wish to admit it openly, Loki may be the best man to help him.

Loki stopped pacing and turned on Strange with a look that shot daggers, pure hateful daggers of resentment.

“Then why bring me here? This was your idea.”

“Because,” Strange sighed, closing his eyes in exasperation at having to repeat himself again, “this is a matter of magical means and you seem to know your way around such things.”

“And if I do? Why would I want to sort it out and not let it wreak havoc? It’s not my business.”

“There have been a series of artifacts that have activated and are causing nothing but problems across the realms, it could very well become your problem if we don’t settle it.”

Loki stared at him then shook his head and licked his bottom lip, letting out a long sigh as his eyes closed.

He hated to admit it, but the Midgardian wizard was right.

There was every chance in the realms that his home could come into threat if these things had really been taken, by who and where they originated from would be a good thing to decipher as well.

But, and this was his main question, did he really want to work with this two-bit sorcerer?

He still hadn’t exactly forgiven him for what happened in the past, that was a hard floor to land on.

“What do I get out of this?” He finally asked, sitting down in the seat he had originally been summoned to, his tea now sitting forgotten and cold.

“Aside from safety in your own realm?”

Strange gave him a look that seemed almost judging, as if the answer of less threats to his people should suffice.

Rightfully so and he did ultimately want that, but Loki also believed that his time was worth a little more.

“Alright, I’ll do it,” Loki nodded, resting one leg over the other and placing his laced hands atop his perched knee, “if I get access to your library.”

“Excuse me?”

“The library you wizards keep, I’ve heard there are some fascinating and powerful books there and I wish to have access to them.”

“And why would I do that? You’re already considered a threat, which is no surprise after New York.”

“You want my help, don’t you?” Loki smirked, looking smug, “give me access to the books and I’ll be more than obliging.”

Strange rubbed at his temple as if he could feel a headache coming on, which wouldn’t be a surprise giving his current company, as he considered the options he had at hand.

What Loki was asking for was big and could lead to him being a larger threat than he already was, but on the other hand Strange would be the perfect one to give him access to the writings while making sure he stayed in line.

Slowly, and against his better judgement, he nodded while letting out a small sigh.

“All right, if you help me with gathering these artifacts and shutting them off, I shall let you read the books on certain conditions.”

“I wouldn’t have expected anything less,” Loki picked up the strange cup he’d been given and looked it over, his eyebrow quirking a little before he shot a look at Strange, “what are these conditions?”

“The books don’t leave the library.”

“Is there a better place to read books?” He chuckled, the cup in his hands beginning to heat up again and make his cold fingertips tingle.

Strange ignored him.

“You may only get access when there is another around.”

“Why Doctor, I feel as though you don’t trust me.”

“And finally, you are not to practice any of what you learn where it could be a danger to others.”

Loki leaned back in his seat, blowing on his tea as a means to create a pregnant pause, giving the illusion that he was considering his options.

After taking a slow sip of his tea and grimacing, putting the cup back down on the table beside the arm rest, he laced his hands on top of his knee once again and smiled.

A smile that would make any wise man shudder unpleasantly.

“You have my word.”


	2. Chapter 2

“What are we after first?”

Loki looked at Strange questioningly, his arms folded across his chest as he wandered around the room, admiring the various bits and pieces in the vast collection.

He’d already been warned against touching things, this apparently felt needed after a mishap with Thor had left Strange to tidy things up that, while not exactly being a huge time waste, was an inconvenience.

“The first thing that has been picked up is a form of spirit collector.”

Loki raised his eyebrow, turning away from a set of ancient stone figures with intricate runes carved into them to look at Stephen.

“Okay, and?” He shrugged, “what harm could that be doing?”

“Nothing in the right hands, it’s relatively weak but if it gets into the wrong hands the living could quickly become the dead long before their time.”

“Right,” Loki nodded slowly, “once again, I’m not sure where we fit into this, or me more specifically.”

“Perhaps for this one you aren’t needed, not in the long run, but for stronger things I may need you.”

“You can’t use your wizard friend to help you?”

“Are you trying to talk your way out of our agreement?”

Loki gave another shrug and smiled, continuing his investigation down the aisles of goods.

He knew that there was a bigger reason he’d been asked to help and it infuriated him that he wasn’t getting the answers he wanted, there wasn’t a chance that Strange and his little helper couldn’t settle this by themselves.

So why was Loki being dragged in?

Sure, he may have been a great candidate, what with his vast knowledge of the other realms and the relics that he had had to learn as he grew up, he was also considerably powerful, but there was an underlying reason that itched at the back of his skull.

He’d get the truth eventually, he always did, but he disliked being left in the dark.

“Okay, so this collecting contraption, any idea who has it?”

“From what I’ve gathered a group of amateur ghost hunters in another state.”

Loki stopped again and gave him a look of bemusement.

“Ghost hunters?”

“Yes, think along the lines of Ghostbusters.”

“Are they not the same thing?”

Stephen’s expression now matched Loki’s of flickering confusion, it took him a few seconds to realize that Loki didn’t know about the popular franchise.

“I’ll explain later, but yes, basically.”

“Odd, we don’t really have ghosts in Asgard and if we did, we certainly wouldn’t hunt them, we respect our dead.”

“Your people seem to believe in a lot of mystical and otherworldly things without question, many here don’t,” Stephen shrugged plainly, “everyone has their beliefs.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what? Believe in ghosts?” He watched Loki nod then pressed his lips together for a moment, “I didn’t, but things have certainly changed that view.”

Loki hummed and started to make his way back towards the other man.

“That’s for the best.”

He stopped a few feet away, leaning back so he was half perched on the edge of a display table, his hands sliding into the pockets of the black suit trousers he was wearing with one ankle crossed over the other.

Stephen held out a series of photos and Loki took it, holding them up delicately to inspect what was pictured.

It wasn’t anything spectacular to behold, just something that was made up of three pieces, two were a set of clunky, metallic armlets with old lettering etched into it and the other a rectangular box with similar inscriptions.

To Stephen it looked almost like a children’s toy.

Flipping through the photographs showed moments in time where the things was either being displayed or used, nothing exactly to write home about, but there was something that caught Loki’s eye and had him bringing the photos closer, his eyes narrowing as he honed in to confirm his suspicions.

“The etchings on this thing changes.”

“What?”

Stephen moved around to stand near Loki, leaning over to look at the photos.

Loki found a way to shuffle them so that they would sit comfortably in one hand, using his other to point out specific areas in each picture.

“The language on it is changing with each use,” Loki said, frowning a little.

Stephen, much like Loki had, leaned in closer to examine it better before nodding, licking his lower lip slowly.

“So they do, can you translate them?”

“If I had better pictures, maybe? No guarantees.”

“We’ll be sure to find them.”

Loki set the pictures to one side as Stephen stepped back to his original position, both of their faces contorted in thought.

“I’m guessing the current language would be your Midgardian English, that’s at least one question answered.”

“Now we need to figure out how they managed to get their hands on it and a simple way to get it back.”

“Getting this thing back from them can’t be that hard, we just have to turn up, steal it and be on our way.”

“In this case it may be best to negotiate a little.”

“Oh, or that of course,” Loki chuckled, “I’m very masterful at negotiations.”

Stephen squinted his eyes a little and tilted his head briefly, almost seeming as if he was daring to question Loki’s claims.

“So I’ve heard and this is perhaps where your finesse will come into play, these are normal people so I don’t want to be too heavy-handed.”

“And if they refuse to hand it over, with or without negotiation?”

“Then I guess we may have to get just a little heavy-handed.”


	3. Chapter 3

It would have been comical if it hadn’t been eyeroll worthy.

Staring towards the building, Strange half expected to see a flash of lightning spark over the dilapidated building, of course accompanied with a loud clap of over dramatic thunder.

“I know they’re apparent ghost hunters, but did they have to bring in the Haunted Mansion?”

“It makes sense for them to bring us somewhere haunted if they’re hunting spirits.”

Strange shot Loki a look, not liking his know-it-all tone but begrudgingly understanding that the pseudo-Asgardian didn’t get his reference.

“It’s a popular ride,” he explained with a sigh.

“If that is so, then why does it look abandoned?”

He stared at Loki as the God smirked, thinking that he was right, as always, or he was feigning ignorance to be annoying.

The mansion sitting before them wasn’t anything either of them found spectacular, but it was easy to tell that it was an impressive bit of architecture in its day.

With its tall spires, many balconies and peeling paint, the beauty was still there, it was just yet another building lost to time.

Strange took the lead in stepping forward to join the group that was gathered at the bottom of the front porch steps, each chattering excitedly amongst themselves in their separate friendship groups.

Loki lingered behind, staring towards the building and observing what he could from it at a distance, hoping to see some hint of magic occurring inside but nothing stirred and he wasn’t sure if that filled him with relief or dread.

He tugged on the collar of the green shirt he was wearing, the sun beating down on the back of the button up shirt he wore over it was making him feel uncomfortable, which was quite a feat considering his usual attire and his heritage.

Though he didn’t make it a habit to simply stand around in the sun for long periods of time and his armour, though extravagant, had magical elements to it that most likely helped him to battle intense heat that could affect him.

Upon Strange’s suggestion, he had donned an outfit worthy of a Midgardian so that he could fit in amongst the crowds, this consisted of the aforementioned green t-shirt with a golden emblem and black button up dress shirt that he kept open, accompanied with some black jeans that felt more constricting than his leather.

The only thing he kept of his original attire were his boots.

It wasn’t something he would openly admit to anyone, after all he had to keep up the appearance of class, but Loki liked his new dressed down wardrobe.

“Is anyone giving you a vibe?” He asked as he stepped up beside Strange , sliding his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“No, they all just have an air of excited ghost enthusiasts.”

“Damn it, I was hoping that we wouldn’t have to go inside.”

“Are you ever that lucky?”

Loki thought about it for a moment then nodded, smirking a little.

“On occasion.”

A round of excited cheers caught their attention and drew it towards the front doors, which had been flung open in such an extravagant display that Loki himself would be shook by it had he not found it tacky.

The way the two had thrust the doors open and greeted them all like show magicians made him roll his eyes, even more so by the fact that they held a pose with their arms held out and their mouths hanging open in wide fake smiles.

He even heard Strange grumble a little beside him, though he sadly missed the comment he made.

Finally, the two unfroze from their dramatic stance and headed down the stairs, taking up a spot in the center of the staircase.

“Welcome, one and all,” the woman said with a gentle bow of her head, “and thank you for joining us.”

The two sorcerers shared a fleeting look, each believing that they also shared a similar thought.

The woman, who was clad in an outfit that could only be described as punk with her hair dyed in a way that made it hard to tell if it was black with red streaks or red with black, was grinning too widely at the group and it was starting to make the two feel slightly uncomfortable with how obviously fake it was.

Their cheeks ached just from looking at her.

“What you’re going to see here will amaze you,” her companion continued, his own appearance being more stereotypical nerd in a pastel coloured polo shirt, “and must not be spoken of beyond these walls.”

He pushed up his glasses to sit higher on his nose as he gazed over the group, taking in each patron and most likely thinking of the money they were making from this sham because of these suckers.

Strange didn’t like the impression he was getting off the man and Loki looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

Unfortunately for them both, they were to be pulled into this ridiculous act further as the two each stepped to one side of the staircase and held out a hand towards the house, inviting everyone to go inside.


	4. Chapter 4

“Could they have gone for anywhere more cliché?”

Loki glanced at Strange, noting how the other man was giving the foyer they had been led into a distasteful once over, his nose wrinkled into a sneer.

“I don’t know,” Loki said with a shrug, taking in the drab grey wallpaper, though a beige underneath was shown where some had peeled away, black wooden boarders and doors, the set of stairs in front of them carpeted in a dust covered red rug, “I think it’s quaint.”

“I suppose you haven’t seen any of our horror movies to understand how stereotypical this set up is.”

“I certainly can’t say I have, but if they take place in homes like this then I may just have to look into some during our downtime.”

“Let’s get out of here without becoming ghosts ourselves before you start taking decoration advice from slashers.”

The group in front of them had been taking in the décor of the place since they had entered, looking around in awe as if they had never seen anything like it, which made Stephen had to suppress an eyeroll.

His patience had gotten better since his little journey into self-discovery that had led to the stone, but that didn’t mean he could tolerate too much idiocy in one place for too long and the fifteen minutes of waiting outside before being ushered inside to stand idly around for another five had already started to push his limits.

He wanted to give the group he was lumbered with a little credit, but he couldn’t force himself to believe that they were playing along with a gimmick and knew that it was all fake.

Heavens knows he wanted to believe it but his suspension of disbelief only went so far.

Stephen turned his attention to the two hosts who were smiling far too widely for his liking, the entire interaction coming across as awkwardly eager and uncomfortable more than engaging.

Silently, he prayed that they didn’t come to speak to him and he especially hoped they didn’t speak to Loki.

“Are you picking anything up?”

Stephen glanced towards Loki, who was looking at him curiously in return, before reverting his eyes back to ones stood at the front and slowly shaking his head.

“There’s a weak presence, it’s definitely here somewhere but it’s not on either of them.”

“Of course,” Loki nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets, “and tell me again why we can’t just use your oh so magnificent magic to deal with this?”

“There are simply some cases where such excessive efforts would be overdramatic, retrieving a few artifacts would be one of them.”

“Shame really, I quite like a flare of dramatics.”

“Then this ridiculous show should be right up your alley.”

Right on cue, the two hosts jumped away from the group they were talking to and leapt up a few of the dusty steps in a way that reminded Strange of a couple of kid’s TV show presenters.

“Okay,” the girl started, needlessly raising her voice to an already quiet crowd, “I’m Carmen and this,” she indicated to the man to her left, “is Davis, we’re going to lead you through the house now and tell you stories of all the amazing things that happened here.”

“Don’t be alarmed by anything,” Davis spoke after Carmen, his eyes roaming over the crowd, “the spirits are extremely lively in here and sometimes the walls speak their stories of the dead, stories that are dying to be told.”

“And why would that possibly alarm anyone?”

All eyes turned to Loki, even Stephen turned to give him a look that urged him to be quiet, instead he smirked a little and shrugged.

“Don’t all stories wish to be told? It’s quite common actually, where I’m from you’re lucky to get to breakfast without someone interrupting you to tell you their story.”

“Oh?” Davis asked, his eyebrow quirking as he attempted to stem down his look of irritation at having their big moment interrupted. “And where exactly are you from?”

Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“What an indignant question, I’m from Asg-”

“Norway,” Stephen interrupted, giving Davis a tight smile, “he’s from Norway and we all know how rich with stories they are.”

“Yes, well,” Carmen smiled tightly, clasping her hands together, “we like to learn the stories of the spirits we communicate with, so the more we listen the better and who knows, maybe we’ll even see one of them.”

“If you’ll follow us,” Davis said, turning to continue up the stairs, sweeping a flashlight over the surfaces as they pass.

Stephen shoots Loki a look and then follows the group up the dusty stairs.

“Don’t start getting on their nerves already,” he warns, “we need to play along for now.”

“I was playing along with their farce,” Loki rolls his eyes a little, though he’s still smirking to himself. “Don’t you Midgardians like sharing stories about yourselves?”

“There’s a time and a place, in the middle of their huge dramatic entrance probably wasn’t the best time to start.”

Loki shrugged, “It shut them up quicker, didn’t it?”

“For once I agree with you, without you interrupting we’d probably still be listening to them building up tension for a simple ghost walk.”

They came to a stop at the top of the stairs where Carmen and Davis turned towards the right and smiled over their shoulders.

“We’ll start this way and give you the stories of the spirits of this place,” Carmen sang in too chipper a voice for the situation.

“Then we’ll lead you down the left hallway, the worst of them all.”

The group in front of Strange and Loki started gasping and whispering between themselves once again as the two hosts led them down the hall, they both watched the group get further before looking at one another.

“The worst of them all, huh?” Loki chuckled.

“It seems we’ll be heading left then.”


	5. Chapter 5

They waited until the genuinely interested group was out of sight and then turned, heading around the corner to the opposite corridor.

Behind them, they could still hear the hosts talking, spinning fables about apparent happenings within this house and the supposed ghostly activities that had started because of it all.

“Hardly Shakespeare, are they?”

Strange looked at Loki, unable to hide a small amused smile.

“I don’t know, they’re just as amusing as some of his works.”

“Too bad they want people to actually believe what they’re spinning.”

“I find it funnier when people believe the bull they want to sell.”

“How ironic.”

“Even I can appreciate a good dose of irony.”

“Wow, the great sorcerer has a sense of humour.”

Strange chose to ignore the snipe and moved up the stairs, leaving a chuckling Loki to trail behind him.

At the top of the stairs they had an option to turn either left or right, sharing a glance they silently agreed to start left due to it being shorter with less doors, only two in comparison to the five to their right, and to work their way down.

He hadn’t commented on it yet, but Strange had noticed the cheesy Halloween decorations that had been added for ‘atmosphere’, a word he would have to use loosely in this scenario.

Loki was unsurprisingly more into the over dramatics, instead of rolling his eyes at each fake web that had been added on top of the current real ones, the seemed to be more amused.

“You Midgardians are so quaint,” he grinned, stepping up to a large framed portrait of an average looking brunette woman that was barely a few steps away from the top of the stairs.

Strange looked over and shook his head.

“Can you focus? We have something to find before someone gets hurt.”

Loki glanced at him with a weak attempt to hide a smirk.

“Well you know, if you us-”

“If you say one more thing about my abilities, I will send you to the dimension of man-hungry Pegasus’s.” 

Loki wrinkled his nose in a grimace and looked back at the portrait.

“I’d rather not go there again, thank you.”

He then looked to either of his sides in turn, noticing the portrait at the end of the hall just behind Strange.

Loki looked between the portrait in front of him then the one at the end of the hall and then slowly turned on the spot until he was facing the other side of the house, where another portrait was hanging symmetrically to the side they were on.

“What are you thinking?” Strange asked, moving closer.

“These portraits, don’t they seem a little off to you?”

Strange turned and mimicked Loki’s previous inspection.

“Not particularly, they’re simply a bit crass.”

“No,” Loki shook his head before hesitating as his eyes found the first portrait again. “Okay, yes, that too, but these feel purposefully placed here.”

“Unlike everything else?”

“This seems different to the disgustingly fake webs, these have been put here to look like they are supposed to be here, to not stand out despite the fact that they still do if you look too close.”

“So, you’re thinking that perhaps we’ve found our ghost?”

“That may be so.”

“She certainly doesn’t look like Carmen and Davis wouldn’t look that good in a wig.”

“Meaning we have at least one other person here, somewhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an update!  
> I had to plan out the top of the stairs at work before I lost myself, boy...if you guys could see the mess that diagram is.


	6. Chapter 6

“Great, meaning one of these rooms is hiding our elusive artifact,” Strange said.

Loki nodded and then turned towards the first door to his left, stepping closer he reached out and tried the door handle.

He wasn’t entirely surprised when the door swung open freely without a sound, he was surprised by how pristine the room inside was.

“Do all bathrooms in your haunted houses sparkle so much?” He smiled, unable to stop himself looking at the too clean bathroom and the worn-down hallway they were stood in.

“Not typically, no.”

“Then I’m willing to be my daggers that either your ghosts are very particular about bathroom cleanliness or this house is a little more modern than they want people to believe.”

“You just may be right.”

Loki closed the door again while Strange moved to the other doors, a thinner, double set, and pulled them open to find a wide closet with nothing but a shelf holding linen inside.

“Do you think they own this place?” Loki asked, stepping up behind him.

“Honestly? I’m starting to think that that is very likely,” Strange looked at him over his shoulder and then closed the doors again, “or they’ve been squatting for a while.”

“How long has this particular item been missing?”

“According to what I was sent it’s been about two months.”

“Enough time to set up some elaborate ghost tour in a place like this.”

“Exactly.”

Both men exchange a similar look of understanding and turned to the right side of the hall, staring down the poorly lit, mostly for affect, corridor that would lead to the worst of the worst.

“So, we have a choice of five doors that could hold our potential ghost wrangler,” Loki chuckled, looking between the options, “where are you placing your bets? No cheating.”

Strange pointed directly ahead of them.

“I’ll take that one.”

“You can’t,” Loki shook his head, looking at him, “that’s my door.”

“You didn’t call it, so it’s mine.”

Strange gave the God a rare smirk of victory and made to step forward, only to be pulled back harshly by Loki and promptly swung into the now open closet by the collar of his shirt.

Before he had a chance to make a sound of protest beyond a surprised yell, Loki had stepped in beside him and pulled the doors closed just as the overenthusiastic chattering of the hosts got louder as they led the group back down the hall.

They watched through the slats in the closet door as the group came back into view, Carmen and Davis walking backwards as they talked animatedly about the servants that lived in that side of the building and the torments they lived through within these very walls.

‘Vomit inducing,’ Strange thought to himself.

The tour group moved to the end of the hallway in front of the portrait Loki had noticed before, almost perfectly opposite where the two magic wielders were hiding, it seemed that their absence within the group had gone unnoticed.

Davis started spouting another nonsense story and Strange briefly zoned out of that situation and into their current one, as if he had only just noticed that he had been dragged into an enclosed space by another man who could use magic almost as well as him, not that he would admit it and feed Loki’s ego.

“You know we both could have found alternate way to hide, not that we had to anyway,” he whispered, looking at Loki though he was sure Loki couldn’t see expression of frustrated bemusement in the darkness.

“I panicked, okay?”

“Scared that Carmen will tell you off?”

“Yes, I’m terrified of a wafer-thin Midgardian that barely reaches my knee.”

“Then why did you pull us in here?”

“Because it’s thrilling to be stuck in a closet with a two-bit stage magician,” Loki snipped, his eyes trained on the group across from them. “Look, we have a vantage point being away from the group.”

“I’m aware.”

“Exactly and being seen would have led to us being called to the group and probably would have resulted in us getting more attention put on us.”

“So you panicked and dragged us into a closet?”

“What can I say? This quality time means the world to me and I’m hoping someone catches us.”

Strange could hear the eye roll in Loki’s tone, but didn’t get a chance to make a comeback, not that he would have wasted the energy to begin with, it was like arguing with a brick wall.

Only you’d get more sense out of a brick wall.

From across the hall, the crowd gasped and whispered loudly as Carmen and Davis stepped back from the portrait, this one similar to the one Loki had been looking at, the same woman in a different pose and unlike the one they had been observing, this one was glowing a bright almost golden orange.


	7. Chapter 7

The glow seeped from the portrait like a thick mist that faded from white to pink to orange, the spectacle being effectively beautiful and haunting.

They watched in deep fascination as the glow gradually grew and morphed, the group directly in front of it frozen in terrified awe.

Within this glow stood the hazy figure of a woman, her hair was flowing around her as if she were suspended in water, her long dress swirling around her legs and exposing her crossed ankles and pointed feet.

“It seems we’ve found one of our ghosts,” Strange mumbled.

“How conveniently placed.”

“Appears as though your spontaneous closet idea was beneficial.”

The figure before them brightened, soon followed by a wispy voice that rang clear through the hall.

“You must leave this place, there is a great evil here and you are all in danger.”

Strange could only stare with his expression as blank as a slate, Loki rolled his eyes and suppressed a sigh and the group watched in a mixture of awe and fear.

“I think they’re talking about you.”

Loki glanced at Strange and smirked proudly, shrugging his shoulders.

“They’d be lucky to marvel at the spectacle I’d put on for them.”

“You mean like that time in Germany?”

“We don’t talk about that anymore.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

The group started whispering and gasping amongst themselves, turning to one another with looks of utter disbelief and amazement.

Strange thought that it was a peculiar thing, he had expected the people attending to be really into ghost tours without accepting such trickery and spectacle, wanting the facts of the house and the stories which make it so haunted rather than something worthy of an overextravagant theme park ride.

The spectre continued to float before the portrait in silence, as if waiting for the group to fall silent before going on with its speech, like it was in a play waiting for its cue.

Another thing that struck Loki and Strange as unusual.

When the tour group refused to settle, Carmen took a turn for the impatient and decided to take things into her own hands.

“Thank you for the warning, kind spirit,” she loudly and dramatically yelled, trying to talk over the group to draw their attention, “but we have some to help you, please, tell us how you died and where.”

“She’s not the best actress, is she?” Loki said, huffing out a laugh.

Carmen turned back to the glowing figure, indicating to the group that they should follow suit with a desperate smile.

The spirit gave the group a look that was supposed to read fretful but kind, a look Loki was familiar with enough from his own mother to know that this girl couldn’t pull it off.

“I died in the nursery,” she answered softly, turning her gaze down, “that’s where he cornered me and my baby.”

Davis stepped forward, giving a performance as if he were a hero rather than a faking ghost hunter.

“How can we help you?”

The spirit looked to his with a faint smile.

“You must-”

Obviously on cue, a door started to violently rattle and bang down at the end of the corridor that held the closet where Loki and Strange were ‘hiding’.

The spirit gasped and backed away towards the portrait, clutching her hands to her chest.

“That is him, I must leave, you must leave, please…don’t go to the nursery.”

Then she disappeared into the portrait once again, as if she had never been there in the first place.

The group continued whispering between themselves as Loki and Strange shared a look in their darkened hideout.

“The nursery, huh?” Loki said, sounding unimpressed and a little jaded.

“Looks like we’ll be joining the group again once they reach us.”

“Wonderful.”

The two men stood in the closet in silence, neither of them having any further comments and having to wait until the group decided to venture over to this side of the hallway.

“Great job.”

“What?”

Strange turned to Loki, who looked back at him with a confused look and a shake of his head.

“I didn’t say anything.”

They both fell silent again, staring at each other as a crackling picked up just outside the closet, down to their right.

“Thanks,” a female voice spoke, “now what?”

“Stay there,” a male voice replied, distorted as if he were talking through a poor-quality walkie-talkie, “when the group turn towards the end of the hall, you’re to float past and turn into the nursery where the final portrait is.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, Carmen has done it a few times now, as long as you go from one to the other it’s safe, they’re set up specifically.”

“Okay.”

“You’re doing great, Alice, keep it up and make sure to draw them away from the office.”

“You got it.”

Soon after the static crackling died down and the closet fell into silence again, no long stuck between the interference.

“The office,” Strange repeated, Loki nodding his confirmation.

“I’m guessing that’s where our mystery man is hiding with our little mcguffin, spirit box thing.”

“And this Alice girl is our resident spirit,” Strange sighed and shook his head, “they’re playing a dangerous game.”

“Of course, forcing your soul out of your body is no laughing matter.”

“All the more reason to put an end to it before something goes wrong.”

“For once I agree with you.”


	8. Chapter 8

It was an agonising wait for the two in the closet, watching the group move slower than snails to get to their side of the hall, inspect the portrait opposite to the one that had just birthed a spirit which happened to be right beside where they were hiding and to finally turn around and step away far enough so that Loki and Strange could slip out undetected.

Strange could feel Loki bristling beside him, getting impatient as the tour group took their sweet time. At one point he fully believed that the God was ready to just spring out and make up some elaborate story as to why they were in the closet, a situation he wanted to avoid for the sake of his leftover sanity.

Anytime he could disassociate himself with Loki was a plus in his mind.

Once they were far enough away, Loki forced the door open with a flair of relief and stepped out into the corridor, straightening his shirt as Strange wandered out behind him, closing the doors and taking a few strides to join the back of the group as if he had never left.

Loki trailed behind a little slower, his eyes going to the portrait that the overheard conversation had come from.

Strange glanced over, noting Loki’s narrowed eyes and look of concentration, and wondered what the other man was thinking.

Once done with his mini-inspection, Loki joined the group as Davis was spouting some other tale to add atmosphere to the house.

“Did something catch your eye?” Strange whispered, casting a quick glance his way.

“Perhaps,” Loki replied, his eyes trained ahead of him. “The top right corner of the portrait, there’s something underneath it.”

“Is that so? I guess someone will have to take a look.”

“Indeed,” Loki nodded, his tongue flickering out briefly to run across his bottom lip, “and someone will have to act as a distraction.”

His lips pulled into a smirk and Strange couldn’t help the little chuckle that left him at the twinkle that shone in Loki’s eye.

“I take it you’ve taken that role.”

“It just fits me so well that it would be criminal if I didn’t.”

“Of course it would be,” Strange glanced at Loki, who looked like he was concocting the most delicious of devious schemes. “Do you have a plan already?”

“I’m working on it.”

“Then you might want to hurry it up before I lose my chance.”

“You won’t lose your change, trust me.”

Strange gave Loki a pointed look, his eyebrows raising and his head tilting ever so slightly.

“I’m not stupid enough to do that yet.”

“Yet?” Loki looked back at him, smiling widely, “my, our relationship has progressed.”

“Are you two quite done?”

They turned to look at Carmen, whose perfectly plucked eyebrows were furrowed as she stared them down with her hands splayed on her hips like a mother telling off her children.

“No,” Loki grinned cattishly, “but you may continue anyway.”

She rolled her eyes and turned away from them with a sneer, concentrating on the room to the group’s right to try and stem down the urge to murder him.

“This is the nursery, the room the spirit talked about,” she said, turning on her spooky story narrator voice.

“We must brace ourselves,” Davis continued, failing to hide a grin, “who knows what we will find in there.”

Loki rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“I’m willing to bet it will be a ghost.”

Strange pursed his lips together and glanced down, trying to stifle a chuckle that wanted to bubble up. For once he was willing to accept that perhaps Loki could be humorous, if only for a flickering minute.

Some of the group also appeared to hear his stage-whispered response as they sniggered and tittered amongst themselves, a few throwing a look their way over their shoulders.

Davis either didn’t hear Loki or chose to ignore him as he nodded to Carmen, who took her cue and opened the door in a way that was too slow to be dramatic or convincing.

“When we step in here, we must be respectful if we don’t wish to anger the spirits.”

Carmen was the first to step inside, followed by Davis and a hesitant group of suckers.

“Okay,” Loki said stepping forward, half turning to Strange, “I’ll go inside and distract them while you go and look at the portrait.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“Doesn’t it? Just be quick about it, I’ll try to hold them off as long as I can but I can’t make any promises.”

“A few minutes should be more than enough.”

Loki smirked and dipped his head then turned to follow the group into the room.

Strange watched after him and watched as Loki stepped into the doorway and slowly closed to door behind him, once the click of the latch sounded in the now quiet hall, he turned back towards the way they had come and walked back to the portrait at the end of the hall.


	9. Chapter 9

Strange waited a couple of beats after the group had left before heading back down the hall, his eyes trained on the corner of the portrait that Loki had pointed out to him.

When he stopped in front of the decoration, he briefly glanced over his shoulder to doublecheck that the coast was completely clear then stepped upwards towards the top corner of the painting, as if he were climbing a short stepladder rather than thin air.

Once he was at eye level with the corner that he needed, Strange leaned in and ran the tips of his fingers over the edge of the portrait, which he wasn’t surprised to learn was not made of canvas and was instead a cheap paper replacement glued to a piece of hard cardboard.

As suspected, when he ran his fingers over the worn paper, he felt a rise where something hard lay beneath.

Leaning closer, it was easier to see where the paper had been peeled away to seal the item inside and the carefully tucked back behind the wood, for most it would be unnoticeable unless you knew what you were looking for.

Or, unless you were a powerful sorcerer of unknown realms.

With a light tsk, Strange pressed the tip of his index finger to the corner of the painting and carefully pulled it until the paper gave and slid easily away from the cardboard so that he could peel it away far enough to reveal the device beneath.

The device was chrome with three lights which were blinking green in a timed sequence, one blink every three seconds, and was just barely large enough to fit in the palm of a five year old.

It was peculiar how something to small and non-threatening could separate body and spirit and yet here it was, crudely taped in place behind a fake portrait that was being used as story bait by a group of wannabe Ghostbusters.

“So you’re the little thing causing so much trouble,” he mumbled to himself, pinching the circular metal and tearing it away from the cardboard before setting the portrait back seamlessly into place.

He let himself drift back to the floor, encasing the surprisingly warm device in his large hand as his feet finally touched the ground and he steadied himself with ease.

Turning around, Strange opened his palm again to look the device over briefly then cast his eyes around the rooms both on his side of the hall and the opposite.

“Something tells me that this one little thing isn’t doing all the work.”

He slowly made his way down the hallway, his eyes flickering this way and that as he took in each crevice of the walls, doors, frames and windows.

Coming to a stop beside the top step of the split staircase, he let out a long sigh.

“Maybe I will use a little bit more help without telling Loki.”

\---

Loki pulled the door closed behind himself and then strategically placed himself in front of the door handle, holding his hands behind his back to try and hide the green glow coming from his palm.

Not that anyone was paying him any mind in the first place, but he wanted to be careful, true to his nature of being sly.

Luckily, the room they have stepped into was considerably smaller than he had anticipated, so he didn’t have to move any further from the door as their tour continued and more deeply fascinating stories were told to a morbidly enthralled crowd and Loki.

Davis turned to the crowd once everyone was in, failing to hide a disturbing smile that wanted to curve his lips.

“Here, in this very room, is where our Lady of the house and her child were brutally murdered by the Master of the house, her husband and the child’s father.”

“Why?” One of the girl’s, a girl with a high ponytail of bright blonde hair, gasped with a quivering voice. “What did they do?”

“Nothing,” Carmen answered, “nothing at all.”

“There must have been something,” Loki spoke up in an even tone, “even if it’s ridiculous to others, there’s always a reason.”

Davis shot him a look that was terribly masked irritation, which only made Loki feel a familiar giddiness that would lift his spirits. He couldn’t stop himself from reacting, giving a small shrug with his best look of practiced innocence.

“Families? Am I right?”

With a not-so-subtle clear of his throat, Davis turned away after giving Loki a look of warning then turned to address the rest of the group. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the girl from before turning towards him with a smile of amusement which he readily returned before looking away again, letting his eyes roam around the room.

“Anyway,” Carmen continued, trying to keep her voice steady, “it is said that a maid found their bodies slumped in the corner, mother cradling her child to her chest, both of their heads caved in and blood spattered everywhere.”

As per the cue, everyone turned to look towards the corner that Carmen was indicating to, as if they were expecting to see the remains still hunched against the wall.

Truthfully, Loki wouldn’t have been surprised if they went as far as digging up a grave for added dramatics.

“There’s rumour,” Davis started, trying to keep his voice drawn out and eerily quiet, “that if you listen carefully, you can still hear the woman wailing.”

The whole room falls silent and breaths were held as the collective group waited for something, anything to happen.

As the silence drew out, Loki noticed both Drew and Carmen were exchanging looks as discreetly as they could while the gathered people started to mumble amongst themselves once again.

From somewhere in the hall, Loki felt a strange surge of magic which pulsed through the wall continuously, as if something were trying to breakthrough an invisible barrier.

Had it been Strange’s familiar imprint he wouldn’t have reacted at all, but this one felt considerably weaker and wasn’t laced with magical energy.

He had a sneaking suspicion of what was happening and he suspected that perhaps Strange had caught onto it too, but they’d have to reunite to confirm which he couldn’t do with others around.

“Ugh,” Davis said awkwardly, “well, perhaps we’re here at the wrong time today, we should make our way to-”

A completely manly, high-pitched scream erupted from his throat and cut off his sentence as a too-clean teddy bear rose from the ancient looking crib and moved across the room to rest on a rocking chair that sat to his right.

Carmen’s eyes widened as the colour drained from her face as she watched, then jumped when the chair started rocking so fast that the back of it began to collide with the wall behind it.

The others in the room were all gasping, yelling and murmuring between themselves, looking unsure if this was part of the show and frightened by the activity. He stepped aside and into the corner closest to the door as one of the group made a run for the door, attempting to twist the knob only to find it sticking firmly in place.

Loki tried to suppress a smirk as he glanced around the room, trying to figure out what else he could play with to keep them all distracted.

He just needed to bide enough time so that he could project himself to Strange and confirm his suspicions, though he was a little sad that while he was distracted he would be missing part of the fun.

Sadly, sometimes needs must and he let himself drift away from the action, even though it was the most fun he had had since arriving there.


	10. Chapter 10

“Did you sense that?”

Strange turned to Loki, who had appeared to his left, then cast a quick glance around the vast hallway.

“Unfortunately, yes, I did.”

“You picked up on how angry it is as well, didn’t you?”

He hummed and nodded, eyes returning to the God.

“Someone isn’t pleased with them messing with the natural order, separating body and spirit like they are is summoning something powerful.”

“Can you pick up on it further?” Loki asked.

“It fades in and out, it probably gains strength when they use the thing.”

“Perhaps we should destroy it.”

Strange rolled his eyes a little, though one corner of his lips twitched up every so slightly into a smile.

“Despite your nature for chaos, we were asked to retrieve it and take it back.”

“It’s still retrieved if it’s in pieces, as long as we take all the pieces.”

Looking at Loki, he opened his mouth to reply but found himself speechless, so instead opted for shaking his head and moving down the corridor to stop beside the staircase.

“We have to find the second part of this,” Strange mused, more to himself than to Loki, as he fiddled with the device in his hand, “and any others if there are more.”

“I guess we’ll be venturing across the staircase then.”

“Just to check the other portrait, yes, we didn’t get a close look from the closet.”

Loki hummed a chuckle in amusement, “It’s worth a look, though with any luck there will only be two that happen to have a strong radius point.”

“We’ll have to split up for a moment, you take this side and I’ll take the other,” Strange turned to Loki with an expression akin to a stern teacher dealing with a problem child. “Remember, check high and low, every corner that something could be hidden in, every doorframe.”

“Yes, I get it,” Loki rolled his eyes, “I understand the fundamentals of searching for something.”

“I’m surprised, I thought you would just sit around with your hand out and wait for everyone to hand things to you.”

Loki gave Strange a snide look, sneering at him before he turned away and headed down the stairs then up the other side to the opposite hall.

Strange turned back to the closet as Loki walked to the portrait on the other side and together, they started to search every nook and cranny that could possibly hide the miniature devices.

The purposefully low lighting made the shadows deeper than they needed to be, much to the frustration of the two sorcerers, but it didn’t hinder them beyond being an annoyance and neither found anything further tucked away or on top of the doorframes.

Everything was clear.

After a near ten minutes of scream filled searching, the two men met outside the door once again and shared a look and a shrug.

“It seems we’re clear,” Loki said, “except the big one.”

“If this singular one can sustain the power to hold spirits on this single floor, imagine how powerful the main system would be.”

Loki shook his head slowly, “I don’t want to imagine, but if it’s considerably bigger than the device in your possession then I regret to inform you that it’s not in any of the rooms on that side.”

Strange hummed and walked back to stand in front of the door where the group and hosts were being held, screaming and banging still coming from inside.

“That leaves two rooms left,” he said.

“Yes,” Loki nodded, glancing between two doors, one which had been sat at the very end of the hall and one which led to the master bedroom. “And considering where this tour has been leading,” he continued, indicating to the door sat between the other two, “I’d be willing to bet our prize is behind the final door.”

Strange gave Loki a quick look and then stepped forward, grasping onto the door handle and giving the handle a little tweak, he raised an eyebrow and turned to Loki who smirked at him triumphantly.

“I think we’ve found where they’re hiding our present.”

Strange nodded and pulled away, glancing to the nursery room door.

“You should get back inside, stop your haunting and perhaps persuade them to finish this farce early before…” Strange trailed off as the lights flickered around the two men and a low rumbling started at the opposite end of the hallway.

They both turned to the source of the sound, finding a looming shadow slowly emerging from the cardboard portrait as a figure that was somehow darker than the essence surrounding it appeared from the dark mist like an apparition, a large, glinting scythe held securely in its right hand.

“….someone gets hurt.”


End file.
